Bittersweet Part Two: Sibling Rivalry--It's Such a Pain Having sent his two remaining servants to their missions, Rubeus remained alone in his spaceship to ponder his mission.  Twice now the Sailor Scouts had interfered with the plot to capture Small Lady--and twice two warriors had aided them.  These two warriors troubled Rubeus deeply.  To the best of his knowledge, there were no warriors in the future to correspond with these two strangers.  /Where did they come from?/ he wondered.  The truly puzzling aspect to this mystery was the aura of the Negaverse that clung to them.  They didn't have the feel of Negaverse creatures, but seemed to have once been a part of the Negaverse, perhaps... Rubeus shook his head to clear it.  He hated puzzles.   "Rubeus." Startled, Rubeus turned.  "Oh, Wise Man, it's you." The shrouded figure hovering in the center of the chamber caressed its crystal ball.  "Yes, Rubeus, it is I.  Prince Diamond is not pleased with you, Rubeus." Rubeus hid his unease well.  "There have been unexpected difficulties.  The Sailor Scouts of the twentieth century are more powerful than I expected, and they have allies..." "Allies?" "Two warriors who carry the aspect of the Negaverse with them, but are not of the Negaverse itself.  Like Tuxedo Mask, they come to the aid of the Scouts in battle.  I don't know who they are, but they are beginning to annoy me." Rubeus grinned devilishly.  "However, I have dispatched Avery and Prizma to new missions.  Avery is to find and contaminate the sites that will be the Crystal Points of the future while Prizma captures Small Lady and the Silver Imperium Crystal.  The Scouts cannot be in two places at once, so even if one fails, the other will not, and we still win." "You have planned well, Rubeus," Wiseman observed.  "Perhaps these two will not fail." ~*~ "Chibi Usa, why did you run away?" Usagi asked, more harshly than she had really meant to. "Why should you care?  You're too wrapped up in your boyfriend to pay any attention to anyone but yourself," Chibi Usa retorted.  "Go away, Usagi, I don't want to talk to you anymore." Stung, Usagi did as ordered, wishing that Chibi Usa wasn't so annoying.  ~*~ "Hello?  Makoto, come back to Earth!" Minako begged, sitting on the corner of Makoto's bed as she and Rei tried to wipe the goofy grin off their friend's face.  "Makoto, please, pay attention to what we're saying." Makoto's eyes lost their far-off, dreamy look as she retreated from whatever wonderland she had been visiting.  "All right, if you insist.  What do you want?" "We've been trying to talk some sense into you, Makoto!" Rei erupted.  "What were you thinking, to kiss Kunzite like that?" Makoto shrugged gingerly.  "He needed to be kissed," she said simply. Rei slapped her forehead.  "Makoto, he's from the Negaverse!  Don't you remember how many times he's tried to kill us?" "Jadeite's from the Negaverse, too--Both he and Kunzite are helping us with these weird Dark Moon sisters," Makoto pointed out.   "How do we know they aren't spies who are just waiting for the right moment to pounce on us all?" Rei demanded. Makoto shook her head.  "Really, Rei, you're too paranoid for your own good.  You should lighten up a little bit." She grinned.  "You need to live a little... I think you definitely need a boyfriend or something." The smoke could almost be seen boiling out of Rei's ears.  "Kunzite had a boyfriend, too, or have you forgotten?" she hissed, referring to what Mamoru had shared with Usagi (who had then shared it with all her friends) about his time as Prince Endymion. Makoto blinked, but her sunny smile didn't fade at all.  "And your point is, Rei?" "I give up!" Rei exploded, standing.  "Go ahead, make a fool of yourself, Makoto, I don't care any more." She stormed out of the room; the front door could be heard to slam. Minako sighed.  "Makoto, we're just worried about you.  We don't want to see you get hurt, and I'm afraid that Kunzite is just too much of a mystery to us... We just can't trust him yet, and you shouldn't, either.  I think you need to forget anything happened." Makoto took a deep breath.  "Do you really think so, Minako?" Minako nodded solemnly.  "It's for your own good." "All right..." Makoto sighed, mentally crossing her fingers. ~*~ Avery studied the image of the small temple.  It seemed like such an innocent place--Probably the reason it was going to become a Crystal Point, she decided.  It shouldn't be too hard to take it over with Nega-energy, she mused... ~*~ Jadeite, greatly disturbed in spirit, retreated to his apartment after a tumultuous day.  Not only had Greg disrupted his interlude with Ami (a matter of extreme personal regret on his part) in more ways than one (although he supposed that she was in no way obligated to inform him of all her relationships), there had been another battle with the Negaverse to deal with, and then... His mind skittered away from the thought of Kunzite and--No, he wasn't going to thing about how wrong that had been.  It simply wasn't natural to think of Kunzite with anyone but Zoisite, and especially not Kunzite kissing a girl... There was the bad thought again.  It just kept creeping in, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.  Poor Makoto.  She probably had no clue to the exact nature and extent of Kunzite's individuality.  Jadeite sighed.  Poor Kunzite.  The look of absolute stricken horror on his face was clear proof that it hadn't been a premeditated thing for him.  Idly, Jadeite wondered if the thought of kissing a woman instead of a man bothered Kunzite as much as the thought of kissing another man bothered him.  He sighed heavily, his thoughts taking a morose turn.  The image of a pair of blue eyes in a pert, smiling face floated tantalizingly before him, only to be replaced by the unfriendly scowl of a jealous boyfriend.  Just who was this Greg person, anyway?  Was he really Ami's boyfriend, or was that just wishful thinking on Greg's part?  Ami had certainly seemed pleased to see him, but had only introduced him as a friend.  Of course, she had only introduced Jadeite as a friend, too...  /That's probably all she sees me as,/ he thought gloomily.  /A friend... and a responsibility, to make sure that I don't turn on them all.../ He frowned, an unpleasant truth dawning on him.  How could he have thought that Ami might have ever seen him as more than a former slave of the Negaverse who could never be fully trusted? /At least Greg is fully human... Ami deserves someone who hasn't been contaminated by evil.../ ~*~ "Hey, Meatball-head, what's wrong?" Mamoru asked, finding his girlfriend at his door.  "Mamo-chan, I'm not too wrapped up in myself to pay attention to anything else, am I?" Usagi asked tearfully. "No, of course not!" Mamoru exclaimed.  "Come on in; you look like you need to talk to someone... How does some cocoa sound?" Sniffling, she followed him in to the apartment.  "Chibi Usa yelled at me because she says I don't care about anything but me and you." Mamoru sighed, torn between taking the part of his girlfriend and defending the five-year-old who was too lost and scared to be kind. "Usagi, don't take it so hard... Chibi Usa needs a lot of attention, and she doesn't want to share it with anyone else... I think she's especially jealous of me and you..." He grinned.  "I can tell you that she really looks up to Sailor Moon, though... Sometimes she talks in her sleep, and she calls out for Sailor Moon to help her save her Mommy." "I just wish she'd open up enough to tell us where she came from and what she wants," Usagi sighed.  "And I'd really like to know why all those creepy people are after her." Mamoru nodded in agreement.  "I have a feeling that when we find out one, we'll find out the rest." ~*~ "Oh, hi, Greg!" Ami said brightly, only too happy to hear her friend's voice on the other end of the telephone line.  "I'm really sorry I had to run out on you this afternoon." She could hear the shrug in his voice.  "It's all right, I understand.  You have certain commitments that have to come before everything else.  I take it everything went all right?" Ami smiled, glad to have an understanding friend like Greg.  "Yes, it did.  I really hate that I had to cut our meeting short this afternoon.  Maybe we can try to get together again-we have such a lot to catch up on." "Yeah, we sure do," Greg agreed.   /Like where and how you met and became friends with that creepy guy from the Negaverse./  "Maybe tomorrow will be good?" "Well, we're going to do a fire-reading tomorrow at the temple, but after that I'm going to be free," Ami said thoughtfully.  "There's a new bookstore opening, too... I've heard that it has a coffee shop and big, comfortable chairs in addition to all the books.  Do you want to check it out?" "That sounds great!" Greg exclaimed.  "Why don't I pick you up at the temple after your fire-reading?" ~*~ What had he been thinking?  Had he honestly believed that the past had returned to life--that he had been holding the past in his arms again?  How could he have been so blind to reality that he would take advantage of a helpless, injured girl to fulfill his own deepest desires? The questions pounded at Kunzite relentlessly, offering no respite from the guilt as he restlessly wandered the derelict halls of Beryl's palace.  For a moment, it had seemed so very real-it had felt as though he had been embracing his one true love again, and all had been right with the universe... He shook his head, loathing himself and not completely understanding why.  He was a creature of the Negaverse, after all.  What should it matter if a foolish Sailor Scout thought the sun rose and set in his eyes?  She was nothing to him save his worst enemy.  The fact that he had come to her aid, and to the aid of her comrades, meant nothing, save that any time he appeared, it would throw them off balance, for they could not know if he came as friend or as enemy.  With her adoration for him, Sailor Jupiter might even prove to be an asset, a crucial wedge driven deep into the tightly knit group of Sailor Scouts... Kunzite paused in the ruins of Beryl's vast audience hall, where throngs of Negaverse warriors had once congregated, waiting for the command to stream forth in battle once again.  It was desolate now, deserted ever since Beryl's defeat.  The shattered ruins of her throne remained on its dais, and Kunzite could almost see her still sitting there, as she did in his memories... There, on the floor, were the faint scuffs that marked where Zoisite had been standing for his final audience with Beryl.  She had left them there to serve as a constant reminder to him that failure was not an option.  How he had hated Beryl every time he had gazed at those faint marks!  Kunzite stared at the empty hall, knowing in his heart that he would not use Jupiter's misguided affection for him against her or the Scouts.  Like Beryl, like Zoisite, like the hordes of soldiers who had once haunted this hall, the Negaverse he served was dead.  He was an entity unto himself now, and as such, he chose not to resurrect that portion of his past.  Still deep in thought, he left the hall.  It occurred to him to wonder why he had even gone to aid the Sailor Scouts a second time in spite of his determination not to do so.  The first time had been out of curiosity, and a sense of gratitude to Jadeite for his offer of friendship, but it had been no more.  Of that Kunzite was certain.  Yet he had rushed to the battle again, desperate to battle against the darkness... desperate to protect someone--anyone... No.  He would not accept this transference of his affection for Zoisite to Sailor Jupiter.  Allowing his own loneliness to take advantage of Sailor Jupiter in such a way was the lowest form of self-indulgence; it dishonoured him, his memories and love for Zoisite, and Sailor Jupiter herself.  In this new life that he was forging for himself (and Kunzite could not deny that he was beginning, at last, to live again), he would not degrade himself or anyone else in such a way.  Nonetheless, the problem of what he was to do now remained.  Jupiter still possessed his cape like it was some sort of love token, and he had done nothing to discourage that particular image.  Gazing at the bleak wasteland that was the Negaverse, Kunzite shook his head in despair.  He had done despicable things in the past, but none seemed so repugnant as the thought of hurting Sailor Jupiter did now.  Should he allow her to delude herself, hoping that it was a phase that she would pass through without incurring lasting harm?  She was hardly more than a child, really, surely her feelings couldn't run all that deeply.  It was just a passing infatuation that would quickly fade... Then again, Sailor Moon was of an age with Sailor Jupiter, and her love for Tuxedo Mask was a marvel.  It was unfair to deny Sailor Jupiter the capacity for the same depth of feeling.  It might just be an infatuation, but if he didn't discourage it, it could very well become something far more complicated... /I could simply disappear from her life forever and hope that eventually she accepts that I won't be back.../ Kunzite discarded the notion.  Sailor Jupiter was nothing if not persistent and determined, and he couldn't count on her to passively accept his absence.  It might take time, but he had no doubt that she'd hammer on the gates of Hell to find him, should the notion strike her.  Besides, what if the mysterious compulsion to sally forth into battle struck again?  Somehow, he knew that it would.  Sooner or later, he was going to have to face her again... ~*~ "Makoto, should you be out of bed?" Rei demanded, astonished to see her standing in the doorway. Her tall friend shrugged.  "I'm okay... I heal pretty quickly, you know, and I wasn't hurt all that badly.   Besides, did you really expect me to stay away from a fire reading?" "Well, it will be better if you're here with us," Rei admitted.  "Now, if only that scatterbrained Usagi would get here, we could begin." Minako scooted over on the mat to make room for Makoto.  "We're going to try and figure out what these weird Negamoon creatures want with Chibi Usa," she explained. "Hi, guys, sorry I'm late!" Usagi breezed through the door.  "Hey, Makoto, how are you feeling?" "Usagi, you were supposed to be here twenty minutes ago," Rei complained. "Sorry, Rei, had to bring Chibi Usa along.  Mom insisted.  She's in your room, reading your manga," Usagi, blithely unconcerned, explained. Rei's face went dangerously red.  "And just who gave you permission to let her in to *my* room?" she growled.  "I had to do something with her--I, for one, don't want her hanging around and snooping," Usagi snapped.  "Your manga were the best thing I could think of to keep her busy and out of our hair." "She does have a point, Rei," Ami volunteered.  "There's no sense in revealing anything to Chibi Usa that she shouldn't know, especially since we still don't know why she's here and what she wants." Rei controlled her temper through prodigious effort.  "Fine.  Let's just get this over with." She flopped down before the sacred flames. However, even as she began to slip into her meditations, there was another interruption.  "This is our fire room," Rei's grandfather announced proudly, standing in the doorway and speaking to someone behind him.  "Grandpa!" Rei sighed wearily.  "Can't you see we're busy here?" "Oh, hello, ladies, I was just showing Miss Avery here around.  She's interested in becoming a novice here," Grandpa said happily, gazing up at the shadowy figure behind him happily. Rei's scalp prickled uncomfortably; she masked her unease with irritation.  "Grandpa, were you going to discuss this with me?" she asked sharply.  "I'm still in charge around here, young lady!" he reminded her.  "Miss Avery, this is my rude granddaughter, Rei... Rei, this is Miss Avery-um--" "Avery Darkmoon," she said, stepping fully into the light.  Behind Rei the sacred fire leapt high, then subsided into a sullen glow.  "I look forward to working with you, Rei." "I'm sure you do," Rei said, through gritted teeth.  "Grandpa, we were busy.  Please, go away." "All right, I'll show you the courtyard," her grandfather told Avery, leading her out of the room.  "You can meet Yuichirou, our other novice here..." The five girls shot each other anxious looks.  "If that's a would-be priestess, then I'm from the Negaverse," Makoto declared, voicing the thoughts of all present.  "Well, I *am* from the Negaverse, but that was no holy lady," Jadeite observed. The girls shrieked, startled by his abrupt appearance.  "How long have you been here?" Minako demanded. He shrugged.  "I came when I felt her show up--thought I'd investigate and see what was going on." "Oh, no!  Do you think she's come here for Chibi Usa?" Usagi gasped, horror-stricken.  She sprang to her feet and raced out the door. "What a meatball-head!" Rei shook her head in despair.  "Jadeite, Minako, Ami, you go check out this Miss Avery--Makoto and I will go check on Usagi and Chibi Usa." "What I'd like to know is when Usagi got so worried about Chibi Usa," Minako muttered as she raced out the door after Jadeite. ~*~ "Chibi Usa!" Usagi shouted, barreling into Rei's bedroom. "What do you want, Meatball-head?" the little girl demanded, glancing up irritably from a stack of manga.  Usagi answered by scooping her up and stuffing her into Rei's closet.  "Hey, put me down!  Let me out of here!" "Be quiet, Chibi Usa--you'll be safe in here," Usagi hissed.  The intensity in her "cousin's" voice apparently impressed Chibi Usa, for she subsided into silence.  "What's going on?" she whispered. "There's a bad person out there, but don't worry, we'll protect you," Usagi told her, forgetting for a crucial moment that she had not yet transformed into Sailor Moon.  She whirled on her heel and ran out of the room. Chibi Usa frowned in the muffled darkness of the closet.  "That meatball head is going to protect me?  Not likely.  I'd better go see what's going on for myself." Standing on her tiptoes, she opened the door and crept out of the hallway.  ~*~ Contrary to Grandpa Hino's assumption, Yuichirou was not working in the courtyard.  He was, in fact, busy cleaning out the martial arts room when he heard first Usagi, then Rei and Makoto, thunder past the partially closed door.  "Whoa, dude, what was that?" he asked himself, putting down his broom to go have a look.  "Is Chibi Usa all right?" he heard Rei ask. "Yeah, I stuck her in your closet, Rei--you really ought to clean that thing out, y'know," Usagi admonished her friend.  "It's a real mess in there." Rei sighed impatiently.  "We can talk about that some other time.  Come on, let's transform and go trash that Negasleaze!" "MARS STAR POWER!" "JUPITER STAR POWER!" "MOON CRYSTAL POWER!" His eyes bulging, Yuichirou couldn't have averted his eyes from the transforming girls if his soul had been at stake.  Aghast to find that Rei Hino was really Sailor Mars, Yuichirou forgot that he was not supposed to be seeing this and fell forward into the hallway. "Oh, no, it's Yuichirou!" Sailor Jupiter exclaimed.  "He didn't see us transform, did he?" "You're the Sailor Scouts?" Yuichirou asked, sounding even more dazed than usual.  "He sure did," Sailor Mars answered grimly.  "Yuichirou, if you ever breathe a word of this to anyone, I'll--I'll--I'll rip out your spine with my bare hands... through your nose, that's what I'll do!" "Don't worry, Rei--I mean Sailor Mars, your secret is safe with me." Yuichirou grinned.  "Wow.  I can't believe you guys are the Sailor Scouts!" "I can't believe he found out," Sailor Moon muttered darkly.  "Come on, let's go kick some Negabutt!" They raced back down the hallway. ~*~ It couldn't be--Usagi was Sailor Moon?  That self-centered, meatball-headed, clumsy brat was Sailor Moon?  Chibi Usa shook her head violently, wanting nothing but to deny the horrible truth.  She had to rely on Usagi to help her save her mommy?  "Oh, no..." ~*~ Towering over the tiny, lecherous old priest, Avery allowed herself to laugh triumphantly as she watched her dark crystal power infuse Grandpa Hino.  "Soon this place will be mine, and Crystal Tokyo will fall!" she sneered. Grandpa Hino grimaced and staggered, pawing at the tiny pin that clung to his robes.  "You're no novice," he gasped, struggling against the pervasive darkness that threatened to overwhelm his soul. "How can this be?" Avery marveled, not knowing that Rei's grandfather didn't succumb to Negaverse influences easily.  "No one can stand against the Negaverse!"   Grunting with the effort, Grandpa Hino reached up for the pin that had been a gift from his would-be new priestess, knowing somehow that this was the source of the evil that he now sensed so clearly.  Seizing the pulsing object, he ripped it from his clothes and flung it with all his might at Avery.  "Aroint, demon!" he shouted at her. Avery smirked.  "You may have resisted my Dark Moon Pin, old man, but you cannot hope to save yourself from the taint in your soul... This temple is mine!" "Hey, lady, I don't know what 'aroint' means, but when he says to do it, you'd better listen!" shouted Sailor Jupiter.  "This temple does not belong to you!" "I think it means 'begone'," Jadeite commented mildly.  "As in, go away and leave us alone--A wise idea, don't you agree, Miss Avery?" "I think you should aroint, pretty boy," Avery snarled.  "Droid Cheeto, come forth!" A monstrous, lumpy, brilliantly orange monster appeared, grossly disproportioned and extremely ugly.  Roaring like a cheetah, it sprang at the six warriors, launching portions of its own body at them. "It's very brittle!" Sailor Mercury shouted.  "JUPITER... THUNDER..." "MARS... FIREBIRD..." "CRASH!" "STRIKE!" Sailor Jupiter's thunderbolt, working in conjunction with Sailor Mar's firebird, struck the loping, misbegotten creature straight on; it shattered into a thousand flaming bits and pieces just short of a terrified Sailor Moon.  Avery pouted, deeply annoyed by this failure on the part of her droid.  "Nice job, little sister," Prizma, materializing just behind Avery, purred.  "I'm sure Rubeus will be so pleased with this success of yours." "I haven't lost yet, Prizma!" Avery snapped. Prizma smiled gleefully.  "Oh, but you already have, my dear," she whispered, sliding a dark blade between her sister's ribs.  "I shall be taking over for you now, Avery... It's such a pity that the Sailor Scouts beat you, too." Avery, her eyes wide with pain and betrayal, gasped slightly and collapsed before the amazed Sailor Scouts.  "You killed her!" Sailor Moon gasped. Prizma smirked at the Scouts with evil pleasure.  "Haven't you ever wanted to murder your siblings?" she murmured.  "Avery was just in my way to glory... Now I'll be the one to poison the Crystal Points and capture Small Lady--and Rubeus will be certain to reward me--as will Prince Diamond.  All I have to do is dispose of you Sailor Brats, and nothing could be simpler." She snapped her fingers, summoning her allies. Four towering figures appeared--the first was scaly, slender, and fanged, resembling nothing more than a gigantic king cobra.  It hissed at them menacingly.  The second was more massive, nearly as broad across its chest as it was tall--it roared, shaking its bear-like muzzle.  The third droid seemed to be made of quicksilver, reflecting the daylight in a chaotic, ever-changing pattern.  The fourth and final droid was gaunt and tall, shrouded in robes cut from the darkest night.  In one desiccated hand, it cradled a scythe.  Horror-stricken, the Scouts and Jadeite stared at the grim line of enemies.  A red rose hit the ground between the two groups, a symbolic gauntlet thrown down before battle.  "Fear not, Sailor Scouts!  It's a bad situation, but nothing we can't handle!" Tuxedo Mask shouted, coming to stand next to Sailor Moon. "Well, well, Prizma, isn't this interesting?" commented a tall, lithe redhead who suddenly appeared to float off to the side of the face-off.  "Avery appears to have gone the way of her other sisters... With a little help from you, perhaps?" He seemed less displeased than curious. "She cramped my style, Rubeus," Prizma smiled.  "I've never enjoyed sharing the glory, you know..." "Indeed." Rubeus glanced at the Sailor Scouts.  "They've caused no end of trouble, haven't they... I think I shall join you in this little clean- up--But for them, we'd have had Small Lady a long time ago." "You'll never get her!" Sailor Moon shouted defiantly.  "I'll die before I hand her over to a bully like you!" "That can be arranged, Sailor Moon," Rubeus observed dryly, launching a barrage of small, purplish spheres of Dark Crystal energy at her.   A wall of blue-grey force stopped them just short of hitting the Scouts.  Sailor Moon glanced over at Kunzite, whose timely arrival had just spared them a painful attack, sighed and handed another bill to Tuxedo Mask.  Sailor Jupiter smiled happily at Kunzite, who refused to look directly at her.  "Oh, look, the gang's all here," Rubeus laughed.  "That just saves me the trouble of hunting you down later.  That was very thoughtful of you..." The bear-like droid stepped forward, crushing Tuxedo Mask's rose as it snarled at the line of Sailor Scouts and Knights.  "Don't worry, Rei, I'll save you!" Brandishing his broom, Yuichirou rushed forward, utterly heedless of the danger, and clobbered the dark-robed droid.  "That's my boy!" Grandpa Hino shouted, leaping onto the back of the death-like droid as it staggered beneath Yuichirou's blow.  The droid, more annoyed than injured by Yuichirou's blow and only slightly hindered by its new burden, struck the broom with its scythe, shattering the weaker wood easily.  "Uh-oh," Yuichirou muttered, holding a handful of splinters.  Snarling, the droid backhanded Yuichirou, sending him reeling into a tree. "Yuichirou!" Grandpa Hino shouted. With the ease of a high priest, he plastered an ofuda onto the back of the droid's head, shouting the mystical formula that banished all but the strongest of the arch-demons of hell.  Prizma's droid, being only a minor demon of hell, withered into dust, dropping Grandpa Hino soundly onto the ground.  Dazed, he didn't move. "Grandpa!  Yuichirou!" Sailor Mars shrieked, fearing the worst.  Her training as a warrior--her grandfather's legacy to her--kicked in.  Channeling her rage--her grief--her love for the two men, she rounded on Prizma, the immediate cause for all the pain.  Prizma, busy laying about with her dark whip, never even noticed Sailor Mars' anger.  Sailor Mars screamed the same formula her grandfather had used, hurling an ofuda at the cosmetic-abusing sister of deception.  "This is for Grandpa and Yuichirou!" she screamed as Prizma stood frozen in place by the scroll.  "MARS... CELESTIAL FIRE... SURROUND!" Prizma screamed, being a mere minor archfiend, and withered into a pile of dust.  "Whoa, good one, Rei," Yuichirou commented weakly.  "Yuichirou, you're all right!" Sailor Mars cried, rushing to his side. "Um... I guess so..." he muttered.  "I think I hit my head kind of hard..." "Oh, you'll be fine," she sighed, immediately relieved.   Meanwhile, as Yuichirou and Grandpa Hino had attacked the gaunt droid, Jadeite and Kunzite had assessed the situation and separately come to the same conclusion: Rubeus was the direst threat in the field of dire threats.  They both rose into the air in order to meet the officer of the Dark Moon Family on his own level.  "Think we can take this guy?" Jadeite called to Kunzite. "Zoisite could have taken this guy," Kunzite snorted.  Jadeite looked at him disbelievingly.  "Well... with a little help from me..." Jadeite coughed, trying to cover a laugh.  "Then I guess we'll be fine." Rubeus rolled his eyes.  "It's no good to congratulate yourself before the battle's won," he pointed out. "I do believe you were gloating yourself, though," Kunzite told him.  "Believe me, I've been on your end--it never turns out quite like you expect it to--just thought I'd warn you." Rubeus rolled his eyes again.  "So, you've been on my end, have you?  Then you ought to know just how gratifying I'm going to find this!" He blasted them with a stream of dark energy. Gritting their teeth, Jadeite and Kunzite withstood the blast.  With a growl, Kunzite hurled a glowing bolt of energy back at Rubeus. Rubeus snorted contemptuously.  "Is that all you can do?" He blasted them again, only to be distracted by Prizma's dying scream.   Jadeite teleported himself closer to Rubeus and hit him with a close-range barrage of crackling scarlet lightning.  Cursing, Rubeus rounded on the impertinent warrior, striking him with the spheres of dark crystal energy.  Crying out with the pain, Jadeite lost his hold on his levitation and tumbled the nearly twenty feet to the ground.  He lay where he fell, oozing dark blood and not moving.   Rubeus glanced casually at Kunzite.  "It looks like it's just you and me now, doesn't it?  It's too bad your blond friend couldn't stick around long enough to finish the party." "He always has been impetuous," Kunzite replied.  "I seem to find that it's a common failing in those I work with."  The two of them circled about each other warily in the air, seeking a weakness to exploit.  Drawing inspiration from, but improving upon, Jadeite's original idea, Kunzite teleported himself to float behind Rubeus's back.  As the Negamoon general whirled around, launching another blast of negative energy at the surprise attack, Kunzite buried one of his blue-grey energy blades deep into Rubeus's back.  He wasn't quick enough to avoid the last attack from the badly injured Rubeus, and staggered back in the air as Rubeus, too weak to sustain his levitation, fell to the ground ten feet from Jadeite.  Gasping with the effort, Kunzite descended to sit next to his fallen friend, noting faintly that Sailor Mercury was attending Jadeite.  As the world began to turn black, he felt himself falling backward.  Mercifully, the world went dark before he felt his head strike the paving stones. 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